Frosty tales

“All you’ll own is earth until you can paint with all the colours of the wind.”

There are some things that just need to be captured on camera, to be remembered forever. Not huge moments – not all the time. Today whilst we were wandering through a frosty forest, the first thought that hit me when I raised the camera and took a shot of nothing but nature was… ‘It’s so nice not to be photographing someone’s face.’ Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved the Weddings that we’ve had this year and every single one has been fantastic and such an experience. But today was about photographing anything. And it felt so good to be doing it again.

Photographs don’t have to be perfect, but I was impressed with the below capture. Fog, sunshine, rays, cobwebs…all so hard to capture spontaneously and never how they showed up in real life. I looked closer at the below image and noticed the cobweb hanging down through the middle of it, covered in ice. I was almost annoyed at the interruption within my perfect scene. Almost. Then I realised it was all part of the perfect scene.

Today we had some bits and pieces to do so we decided to take hot tea and just drive for a bit, and capture what we could of the morning fog. A curse for so many but a delight for photographers! All of these captures were taken literally on our doorstep. The forest that borders where we live is home to some beautiful scenes, it’s just a huge pain to get to with the dog as the road leading to it has no paths or pavement. So she doesn’t feature today sadly.

So back to those small moments that need to be captured every so often. Today I ticked a few off the list – an image of exactly what it looks like when all around you branches are creaking and frost is melting. That spiders web gently swinging laden with frost. The tiny dew drops framed in sunlight. The shadow of trees as the sun streams through them. Everyday things sometimes, but so beautiful when you have the time to stop and look at them all.

New Years resolution for 2017 – there will be more Photos. Promise.

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A time for blogging

“He who plants kindness, grows love…”

How do you start a blog entry when it’s been so long….it feels odd to just be writing words as they come out of my head. Instead of writing for an essay, an assessment at work, a Christmas card…something planned. 2016 has been a busy year with its ups and downs, trials and tribulations, times for sadness and times for celebration.

It seemed fitting to spend the first free hours that we’d had in a long time, on the meadow. So that’s where we found ourselves on Boxing Day, surveying the many trees that my Dad had spent the Autumn and Winter planting.

The meadow is a place where you can renew. Your energy, yourself, your memories. It’s a place that never changes in many ways, and yet advances and matures in many others. It’s a place that you can rely on. It is by far one of my most favourite places. This year I stored up memories and moments to recapture and recall when I felt that I may need them most.

One of those memories and moments was when we were speeding across the Gulf of Mexico in a boat with dolphins chasing us. I thought, ‘When life gets tough, remember this moment when everything was okay, and the bad bits were forgotten.’ The meadow is full of scenes prepared and stored, ready for conjuring up when most needed. Boxing Day’s time down there was no exception.

This is what happens when you ask two dogs to smile….

So the tree planting is almost complete. Only another few hundred to go…the meadow is looking full already and some of the photos show the contrast between the trees that were first planted when my parents got the meadow, to the ones that are just being put in now. A lot has changed in the years since the meadow was acquired…

The next project is nesting boxes – owls, bats, birds…all the best creatures! I can’t wait to ‘borrow’ my Dad’s extra awesome telephoto lens and sit and wait for the Kingfisher to come by again. He/She makes a regular appearance already but with some patience, fantastic shots can be caught. Just ask my Mum who snapped away with her point and shoot camera a few weeks ago and put me to shame!

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